ESPR repairability: the consultation is open until 9 February 2027

One rule for several product families

Until now, ecodesign requirements were built product by product: one text for phones, another for washing machines, another for servers. The Ecodesign Regulation also allows horizontal requirements, applying to several product families that share the same issue. Repairability is one of them.

The initiative published on 3 November 2026 on the Have your say portal has three aims, according to its official page: that the products in scope are designed to be repairable, that consumers and professional repairers have the information needed to repair them, and that longer product lifetimes reduce environmental impacts.

The type of act is a delegated regulation, and the page places adoption in the second quarter of 2027. The press release from the Directorate-General for Environment speaks of adoption "currently planned for 2027".

Which products are targeted

Based on preliminary results of the Joint Research Centre's preparatory study, the press release gives examples of products expected to be covered, subject to confirmation in the impact assessment:

The press release also states that products already covered by product-specific rules, voluntary agreements or other regulatory frameworks are expected to stay outside the measure, to avoid overlap. Phones and tablets, which already have their own ecodesign regulation, are the most obvious example.

The five options under consultation

The consultation asks for feedback on today's repair difficulties, and on five families of possible measures:

1. Access to spare parts, their availability and how long they stay available.
2. Repair and maintenance information, and who should be able to access it.
3. Software and firmware requirements, which often decide whether an electronic device can be repaired at all.
4. Easier disassembly and reassembly.
5. A repairability score, or equivalent information, at the point of sale.

These are options, not obligations. The text does not exist yet, and the initiative page indicates that the draft act will go through another round of public feedback before adoption.

And the digital product passport?

That is the question the consultation leaves open. The Ecodesign Regulation lists repairability among the product aspects requirements can address, and repair information is exactly the kind of data a digital product passport is designed to carry, with different access for the consumer and for the professional repairer.

But neither the 3 November press release nor the initiative page says whether the required repair information will have to be made available through the digital product passport, or through another channel such as a manual, a manufacturer website or a dedicated database. Both options are legally possible. The choice will matter a great deal to the manufacturers concerned, most of whom have no passport to produce today.

What to do now

1. Check whether your product is on the list. Consumer electronics, small household appliances, light means of transport: if you are in one of those families and outside an existing product regulation, you are probably concerned.
2. Inventory your repair data. Spare part lists, references, availability periods, disassembly documentation, firmware versions. That information often exists, but is scattered across engineering, after-sales and suppliers.
3. Structure that data once. Whether it ends up in a passport, on a website or in a database, the same structured data will serve. This is the part of the work that does not depend on the final text.
4. Respond to the consultation before 9 February 2027. Contributions can be submitted in any official EU language. A concrete case, with your product's real difficulties, weighs more than a general position.

To place your product in the passport timeline, the DPP scope checker gives the applicable date and legal basis in three questions.

Sources

• European Commission, Have your say, initiative 17873, Ecodesign requirements on product repairability, call for evidence Ares(2026)10281444 and public consultation, 3 November 2026 to 9 February 2027, adoption planned for the second quarter of 2027, consulted on 4 November 2026
• European Commission, Directorate-General for Environment, Commission launches public consultation on making products easier to repair, 3 November 2026
• Joint Research Centre, repairability preparatory study, product group 447 documents
• Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for sustainable products